(3) With regard to economy, Sir E. Du Cane was formerly a distinguished officer of the Royal Engineers, and had been engaged for many years in advising the Secretary of State as Surveyor-General of Prisons. It was owing to his experience and capacity that, at a relatively small cost, the prison buildings soon after the Act were brought up to a high standard, both in construction and in sanitation. His financial ability was also of a high order, and economy, consistently with efficiency, became the order of the day. It may be that in some respects his desire for economy led him too far in the direction of retrenchment, both in buildings and in service, but, for the time being, he was justly credited with great administrative and financial success; and it appears from a table prepared in 1885, comparing expenditure on Local Prisons for seven years before and after the Act of 1877, that economy had been achieved amounting to nearly half-a-million of money. Further, in that same year, 1885, the prison population touched and continuedat a lower level than had been previously known. For the year 1878, in which the Prisons were handed over to the Government, the Local Prison population was the highest known,viz:—21,030. From that date it fell almost continuously till February 1885, when it touched the lowest figure then known,viz:—15,484. There had been, moreover, a decrease in the yearly death rate, in the number of suicides, and in corporal punishments, and in the yearly average of dietary punishments. A greater variety of employment had been introduced, and a new uniform system of accounts had been established. The Chairman had some justification, therefore, for inferring from these facts and figures that not only had the new penal system been made effective for the repression of crime, but that the legislation of 1877 had completely succeeded in its object in promoting uniformity, economy, and a generally improved administration.
CHAPTER VII.
THE INQUIRY OF 1894: THE PRISON ACT, 1898: AND THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE ADMINISTRATION ACT, 1914.
Criticism, however, was not silent. There was an uneasy feeling in the public mind that too much importance had been attached to the principle of "uniformity," which was held to be responsible for the alleged evils of the system then in force,i.e., the want of "individualisation" of the prisoner, and the stifling of local control. This feeling found an echo in the Press; not only were the principles of prison treatment, as prescribed by the Prison Acts, criticised, but the prison authority itself, and the constitution of that authority, were held to be responsible for many grave evils. It was contended that centralization only fostered bureaucracy, and that the Prison System of the Country was at the mercy of a single bureaucrat, the Chairman of the Prison Board. It was impossible for the Government of the day to ignore this fierce indictment. A Committee of Inquiry was appointed, under the Chairmanship of Mr. H. Gladstone, M.P., then Parliamentary Under Secretary for Home Affairs. The Report was published in April, 1895, just at the time that Sir E. Du Cane was retiring from the Service, he having attained the age of sixty-five, the age for retirement under the Superannuation Acts. The Report, resulting from a keen and exhaustive inquiry into every branch of prison administration, marks a distinct epoch in the Prison history of this country. It paid a high tribute of praise to the Prison Commissioners and their late Chairman, by its formal declaration that the centralization of authority had been a complete success in the direction of uniformity, discipline, and economy. But while admitting this, and the attention that had been given to organization, finance, order, sanitation, and statistics, it gave some justification for the popular beliefthat centralization had been carried too far, and that local interest and authority had been unduly suppressed; and to use the words of the Report (which constitute the real gravamen of charge against the prison authority) "that prisoners have been treated too much as a hopeless or worthless element of the community, and that the moral as well as the legal responsibility of the prison authorities has been held to cease when they pass outside the prison gates." These words may be said to mark the passage from the old to the new methods of punishment, and from those which rested upon severity and repression to those which looked more hopefully towards the possible reformation of persons committed to prison.
The decrease of crime,i.e., as judged from the reduced daily average population of persons in prison, which had been habitually quoted and regarded as the correct test of a successful prison system, was shown on examination to be due almost entirely to a diminution in the average length of sentences. This fact,i.e., a greater leniency on the part of Magistrates and Judges, taken in conjunction with the remarkable outburst of public sentiment, to which I have referred, undoubtedly connote a gradual rise and growth throughout the community of a tendency towards a larger humanity in the treatment of crime, and a more rational execution of the sentences of the law. Hope of rehabilitation, which had perhaps been made too subordinate to the desire for a firm and exact repression, began to lift its head, and, from this time, the responsibility of the official authority, as a reclaiming agency, became greatly accentuated.
The new spirit which breathes in this Report, and which has largely influenced subsequent legislation and practice, is to be found, so far as Local Prisons are concerned, principally in reforms having for their purpose:—
(1) the concentration of effort on the young or incipient criminal, 16-21.(2) improved classification, and the separation of first from other offenders in Local Prisons.(3) the abolition of the old forms of "hard labour"—
(1) the concentration of effort on the young or incipient criminal, 16-21.
(2) improved classification, and the separation of first from other offenders in Local Prisons.
(3) the abolition of the old forms of "hard labour"—
cranks, treadwheels &c. The rules provide that thelabour of all prisoners shall, if possible, be productive, and the only difference, so far as labour is concerned, between a sentence with, and without, hard labour, is that in the former case a prisoner works in cellular separation for the first twenty-eight days of his sentence, after which period he may work with the rest in association in workrooms, or other open spaces. So long as the Statute preserves the distinction between imprisonment with, or without, hard labour, it is necessary that the system should give effect to the distinction, but the meaning which has been so long associated with the phrase "hard labour" still lingers in the public mind, which even now is apt to imagine that a sentence of hard labour implies a long period of solitary confinement with employment throughout the sentence on hard monotonous forms of labour, such as cranks and treadwheels. Associated labour on productive work is now the rule of Local Prisons, subject to the exception above stated.
(4) the reorganization of "Patronage" or Aid-on-discharge.(5) improved methods for the education and moral betterment of prisoners.(6) the establishment of Training Schools for all ranks of the Prison Staff.(7) improved Prison Dietary.(8) improved medical treatment with special regard to weakminded and tuberculous cases.(9) the reconstruction of prisons, with a view to better sanitation, and provision of workshops for associated labour.
(4) the reorganization of "Patronage" or Aid-on-discharge.
(5) improved methods for the education and moral betterment of prisoners.
(6) the establishment of Training Schools for all ranks of the Prison Staff.
(7) improved Prison Dietary.
(8) improved medical treatment with special regard to weakminded and tuberculous cases.
(9) the reconstruction of prisons, with a view to better sanitation, and provision of workshops for associated labour.
It was at this time that the present writer succeeded Sir E. Du Cane as Chairman of the Prison Commission, and the Secretary of State (Mr. Asquith) in conferring this appointment upon him, expressed the strong desire of the Government that the views of the Committee should, as far as practicable, be carried into execution. Since that date, accordingly, the reform and reorganization of the Prison System has been proceeding in every Department. The steps taken will be found in detail in the Annual Reports of the Commissioners since that date. It is not necessary to recapitulate here all the Departmentalchanges that have taken place, although they are very extensive and far-reaching.
So far as legislation is concerned, three Acts of great importance have been passed—the Prison Act, 1898, the Prevention of Crime Act, 1908, and the Criminal Justice Administration Act, 1914.
The principal changes effected by the Prison Act, 1898, were, firstly the power given to the Secretary of State to make Rules for the Government of Convict and Local Prisons. The Rules embodied in the Schedule to the Prison Act, 1865, and enforced by Statute, were repealed, and what was, in effect, a new Prison Code was established, regulating every detail of administration in Local and Convict Prisons, subject only to the sanction of Parliament, and liable to alteration, from time to time, by Parliamentary Rules. Until now, the Rules of Prisons had been in a confused and chaotic state; some were fixed rigidly by Statute, others were framed without Parliamentary authority by the Secretary of State, others were enacted only by Standing Order,—all these were consolidated and embraced in a single Code, and their execution regulated by a new set of Standing Orders. Rules, with the Standing Orders which interpret them, are now the authority and foundation for the Government of Local and Convict Prisons. Not only has a greater simplicity of administration been attained, but, at the same time, a greater elasticity has been given to the System, which was sadly in need of it. It is not likely that it will again be necessary to resort to legislation in order to effect any change in the details of the System, the Secretary of State now having power, by Parliamentary Rule, to introduce such alterations as time and experience may dictate.
Secondly,—The Prison Act, 1898, created a Triple Division of offenders, power being given to the Courts to direct the treatment in one or other of the Divisions, having regard to the nature of the offence, and the character and antecedents of the offender. It will be remembered that the Act of 1877 had not gone further in the way of Classification than the establishment of the Division known as First Class Misdemeanants. This provision was repealed, and under the new law Courts have, generallyspeaking, an absolute discretion as to the Division in which any convicted prisoner shall be placed. The Rules regulating the treatment of each Division are, of course, subject to Parliamentary sanction. It was hoped, at the time, that the Courts would gladly and readily avail themselves of these new and enlarged powers, although it is recognized that a great responsibility is thus imposed upon the Courts, whose duty, if strictly fulfilled, would be to discriminate in each case brought before it, and to order treatment according to character and antecedents. In this way, it was hoped to secure that "individualisation de la peine", which modern penitentiary science declares to be the ideal at which a good penal system should aim. Courts have not, however, shown a keen desire to exercise this fresh power to the extent contemplated by the Act, the number committed to the Second Division representing not much more than an average of about three per cent of the total eligible committals. The traditional methods of commitment to ordinary imprisonment, with, or without Hard Labour, have so deeply affected the criminal administration of Summary Courts that it has proved difficult to escape from their influence, in spite of the great power of discrimination which the Act affords.
Thirdly,—Another very important provision of the Act was the power given to enable a prisoner sentenced to imprisonment in default of fine to obtain his release on part-payment of the fine. Thus, in the case of a prisoner sentenced to pay a fine—say of ten shillings or two weeks' imprisonment in default—imprisonment could be reduced by a number of days bearing the same proportion to the length of his sentence as the sum paid by him bears to the total fine imposed. The object of this provision was, of course, to modify, though it could not abolish, the admitted evil of the system under which about half the population of Local Prisons is composed of persons not directly committed without the option of a fine for the graver offences, but sentenced to pay perhaps small fines for trivial offences. These, on their inability to pay, became subject to the ordinary pains and penalties of imprisonment as in the case of ordinary criminal prisoners. Although the principle established under theAct was largely made use of, and thus a considerable reduction has taken place in the number of days for which persons sentenced in default of fine remained in Prison, the system of imprisonment in default continued in vogue, and was responsible for some fifty per cent. of the Prison population until action was taken by Parliament in the Session of 1914, since when a great change has taken place in this respect. The Criminal Justice Administration Act, 1914, to which I refer later, in addition to many other valuable provisions regulating the treatment of crime, is specially directed to meet this evil.
The Prison Act, 1898, has also been of historical interest as being the last deliberate decision of the legislature on the vexed question of Corporal Punishment in Prisons. Previously to the Act, a sentence of Corporal Punishment could be awarded in Convict Prisons by one of the Directors, and in Local Prisons by the Visiting Magistrates for any serious offence against prison discipline, and subject to no confirming authority. It is now strictly limited as a penalty for gross personal violence to prison officers, and for mutiny, or incitement to mutiny, and then only in the case of prisoners convicted of felony or sentenced to hard labour. A sentence can only be imposed by a tribunal consisting of not less than three persons, two of whom must be Justices of the Peace, and the order for corporal punishment from such tribunal cannot be carried into effect until confirmed by the Secretary of State, to whom a copy of the notes of evidence and a report of the sentence, and of the grounds on which it was passed, must be furnished. Experience has justified the wisdom of this enactment, which affords a sufficient guarantee against excessive, or unnecessary, exercise of the powers of corporal punishment. It has not been found that the discipline of prisons has suffered, while a due security exists for the protection of prison officers from violence. Public sentiment, which had previously been uneasy on the question of flogging in Prisons, has accepted the present limitation of power as a just and reasonable solution for what has always been a very vexed and difficult question of prison administration.
Again, a change of far-reaching importance in its effect on the discipline and management of Local Prisons was introduced,viz:—the power given to short-term prisoners to earn remission of their sentence by special industry and good conduct. Prisoners whose sentence is for over one month are now able to earn remission of a portion of their imprisonment not exceeding one-sixth of the whole sentence. The power to earn remission has always existed in the case of persons sentenced to penal servitude, where the minimum sentence is three years, and its great value, both as an incentive to industry and good conduct, and as furnishing an element of hope and encouragement under long sentences, has always been recognized. The expectation that the translation of this privilege to the Local Prison System would operate in the same way has been justified by experience.
Hitherto, the stimulus to industry and good conduct in Local Prisons had consisted only of the privileges that could be earned under the Progressive Stage System, in the shape of more letters and visits, and more library books, and larger gratuity. Gratuity, however, did not exceed the sum of ten shillings, whatever the length of sentence. It was, therefore, only prisoners under the longer sentences, presumably those guilty of grave offences, that could benefit to any extent under the Gratuity System—some twenty per cent. of the whole. Moreover, the risk or fear of losing remission marks operates as a powerful deterrent against idleness or misconduct, and it has been found, generally, that under the influence of this salutary provision there has been a marked improvement in the tone and demeanour of the prisoners, while, at the same time, an aid has been furnished to those responsible for maintaining order and discipline.
Such, broadly, were the changes introduced by the Prison Act, 1898. Though a short Act of a few Sections, it has profoundly affected the whole of the Prison administration. It seems to have been accepted by public opinion as a reasonable solution of many difficult questions which had been the subject of criticism, and which led to the outcry against the policy of the administrationwhich had followed the Prison Act, 1877.
Ten years passed before further legislation respecting Prisons was passed. The Prevention of Crime Act, 1908, is of paramount interest as giving effect to the two principal proposals of the Committee of 1894,viz:—special treatment of the young, and the habitual criminal, respectively, but it does not affect the Prison régime, as applied to other categories of criminals, and, so far as it relates to these two special categories, is dealt with in separate chapters.
Since this chapter was written, the Criminal Justice Administration Bill, 1914, has become law. The great effect of this valuable measure is shown in my later chapter No. XVII. dealing with statistics of crime. It will there be seen how largely prison statistics have been affected by the obligation now imposed on Courts to allow time for the payment of fines. The offences for which a fine is imposed are presumably of a trivial character, but by long custom and usage, the practice of almost automatic commitment in default had grown to such a large extent that the intervention of Parliament proved necessary. That the principle of Imprisonment, and all that it connotes, both of shame and stigma, should depend upon the accident whether or not a small sum of money could be provided for payment of a fine at the moment of conviction, is obviously contrary both to reason and to justice. It is now laid down that where any prisoner desires to be allowed time for payment, not less than seven clear days shall be allowed, unless, in the opinion of the Court, there is good reason to the contrary. It is also laid down that in all cases where the offender is not less than sixteen nor more than twenty-one years of age, the Court may allow him to be placed under "Supervision" until the sum is paid. This provision is intended to meet the admitted evil of committing young persons under twenty-one to Prison where the offence is only of a trivial nature, due, in many cases, to the rowdy and irrepressible instincts arising rather from animal spirits, and the absence of proper control, than to any deliberate criminal purpose. It is proposed to create a new Society, whose business it willbe to provide the necessary supervision, and to act, as it were, as an auxiliary to the Courts in furnishing a guarantee that the offender shall either pay the fine or, if after reasonable means of suasion and influence shall have failed, shall be returned to the jurisdiction of the Court to be dealt with in a severer manner. By this special provision for young persons, 16-21, who have hitherto come to Prison in such large numbers, the Act recognizes and extends the principle of the Borstal System—the principle of which, as I shall explain later, is to concentrate attention on the young offender at this plastic age, when the tendency to criminal habit can be arrested and diverted before it is too late, and before familiarity with Police Courts and Prisons obliterates the fear and terror of the law, thus rendering easy an almost certain descent and further degradation to a life of habitual evil-doing. The Act, moreover, as explained in a subsequent chapter, extends the application of the Borstal System, as prescribed by the Act of 1908.
As a further provision against the admitted evil of short sentences of Imprisonment, it is enacted that no imprisonment shall be for a period of less than five days. Power is given to the Secretary of State, on the application of any Police Authority, to certify any police cells, bridewells, or other similar places provided by the authority, to be suitable places for the detention of persons sentenced to terms not exceeding four days, and may make regulations for the inspection of places so provided.
With the object of further modifying what, under the influence of long custom, has become an almost mechanical use of awarding imprisonment with hard labour, it is provided that any imprisonment in default of payment of a sum of money shall be, in the future,withouthard labour, and in other cases, where a commitment is without the option of a fine, the Court has a discretion whether or not hard labour shall be imposed. In order to give a fuller application to the Act of 1898, as before described,viz:—that the classification of prisoners should be into three Divisions, according to character and antecedents, power is given to the Visiting Committee ofPrisons, on the application of the Governor, to direct that, in any suitable case, the prisoner may be placed in the Second Division, where, in the absence of any instruction of the Court to deal otherwise, he would be located in the Third Division.
It is anticipated that this Act will have far-reaching effects (1) in the avoidance of imprisonment where the offence can be adequately met by money payment: (2) in the saving from the taint of imprisonment in the early years, by placing under responsible supervision and care, any young person under twenty-one, who, under the old system, would become familiar with prison surroundings: (3) by extending and strengthening the provisions of the Borstal Act, 1908, and (4) by making effective the classification of ordinary prisoners, aimed at by the Prison Act, 1898, and by adapting their treatment and segregation during imprisonment according to their antecedents and the character of their offence.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE BORSTAL SYSTEM.
The little village of Borstal, on the banks of the Medway, not far from Rochester, has given its name to a system which is now being universally applied, not only at home, but in our Dominions, for the treatment of young offenders, 16-21.
It happened in this way. In this village was situated an old Convict Establishment, formerly used as an annexe to Chatham Convict Prison. There were still a few convicts there; but there was available space for an experiment, which it was decided to make (and which is described later) for the special location and treatment on reformatory lines of young prisoners, 16-21, selected from the ordinary Prisons, where the length of sentence afforded a reasonable time for the application of the system.
The title "Juvenile-Adult" was invented to describe the class—too old for commitment to Reformatory Schools, and too young to be classified with the ordinary grown-up criminal.
The average number of youths of this age committed to Prisons in England and Wales in the opening years of this century was about 19,000. For one year their distribution was as follows:—
Some light was thrown on the character and antecedents of this class of young criminal by an inquiry made with regard to the offences, previous convictions, homes, and educational status of all male prisoners in the Prisons ofEngland and Wales, on a given day, within the ages of sixteen to twenty-one. The total number was 1,238. Nearly two-thirds were guilty of crimes of acquisitiveness,i.e., larceny, burglary, housebreaking, embezzlement, &c. One-fifth of crimes of passion,i.e., sexual offences, assaults, and wounding. There were twenty cases of malicious injury to property, and the remainder were convicted of minor offences against bye-laws, &c. With regard to their education, ninety had none, 512 little, 496 fair, and 111 good. Of the total number, 280 had good homes, but 198 had none at all; 138 had bad ones, and thirty lived in common lodging houses. Only 330 were without previous convictions and 353 had two or more.
At the same time, Dr. Baker, of Pentonville Prison, conducted a most interesting inquiry with regard to the young offenders between sixteen and twenty, who passed through Pentonville Prison in the course of a year. The total was 2,185. Physically, as a class, they were two-and-a-half inches below the average height, and fourteen lbs. less than the average weight. Twenty-six per cent. were afflicted with bodily infirmity. The majority of the offences were of a grave character, offences against the person and against property without violence. Twenty-two per cent. were imprisoned for larceny alone, the various crimes of "acquisitiveness" being characteristic of this age; while in the aggregatethirty-fourper cent. had been previously convicted (no less than 144 on three or more occasions). In the case of offences against property, with and without violence, and vagrancy, the reconvictions were 50, 40, and 45 per cent. respectively.
Public attention has also been called to the large number of indictable offences, and of larceny in particular, committed by persons of this age. Criminal statistics are dominated by the rise or fall in offences of larceny, and this age-category contributed nearly 30 per cent.
The Committee of 1894 made an emphatic declaration in favour of some action being taken to deal specifically with this class. They reported:—"The age when the majority of habitual criminals are made lies between 16 and 21. It appears to us that the most determined effort should be made to lay hold of these incipient criminals, and to prevent them by strong restraint and rational treatment from recruiting the habitual class. We are of opinion that the experiment of establishing a Penal Reformatory under Government management should be tried, and that the Courts should have power to commit to these establishments offenders under the age of 23, for periods of not less than one year and up to three years, with a free exercise of a system of licence."
The proposal to found a State, or Penal, Reformatory, confirmed and emphasized the opinion that had been rapidly gaining ground, both in England and abroad, and especially in the United States, thatup to a certain age, every criminal may be regarded aspotentiallya good citizen: that his relapse into crime may be due either to physical degeneracy, or to bad social environment: that it is the duty of the State at least to try and effect a cure, and not to class the offender off-hand and without experiment with the adult professional criminal.
It seems difficult to believe that, until recently, a lad of 16 was treated by the law, in all respects, if convicted of any offence, as an ordinary adult prisoner, and that for lads of this age, the principle had not been recognized that a long sentence of detention under reformatory conditions can be justified, not so much by the actual offence, as by "the criminal habit, tendency, or association" (Section 1 (b), Borstal Act, 1908), which, unless arrested at an early age, must lead inevitably to a career of crime.
But the fixing of criminal majority at 21 has only been arrived at after a long struggle. It is about a hundred years ago since certain benevolent persons, struck by the wrong of sending the young to prison, if it could be avoided, founded the Colony of Stretton in Warwickshire in 1815, which had for its express purpose the reclamation of criminal youth between the ages of 16 and 20. The process by which they conducted their benevolent efforts was curious, for they took advantage of an ancient law by which young persons might be hired out in husbandry, and they applied to the County Authorities to hire them out young prisoners of this age, with a view to their conversion into honest and useful citizens. So far as I have been able to gather from thehistory of Juvenile Crime, no other attempt was made, either then or for many years to come, to grapple with this problem of Juvenile delinquency. Though it is stated on the authority of a great philosopher that "the angel of Hope came down from heaven in the first decade of the nineteenth century," it does not seem that her influence began to be felt at that time in Penal and other legislation; it was some years after the first decade of the last century that Sir Samuel Romilly complained that it was more easy to get an attendance of Members at the House of Commons to listen to a Debate on a new archway for Highgate or a new Water Bill for Holloway, than to any proposals that he might have to make in the direction of Penal Reform.
It is true that some years later, in 1838, under the auspices of Lord John Russell, then Home Secretary, an Act was passed for the establishment of a Prison at Parkhurst for young offenders. The public conscience had begun to be stirred by the terrible sentences of transportation passed on mere children and youths for periods of as much as 15 to 20 years for what we should now regard as petty offences. The Parkhurst Act of 1838 contained a Clause which has become historical and is known as the "Pardon" clause. By this, the Secretary of State was able to pardon any young person sentenced to transportation on condition that he should place himself under the charge of a benevolent Association. The benevolent Association of those days was known as "The Philanthropic Institution", which was the parent of the famous Red Hill Reformatory School of to-day.
The number of lads, however, sent to Parkhurst was comparatively few, and the absence of any means of dealing with the great mass of Juvenile delinquency began to be recognized by thoughtful and humane persons, and, in 1847, a Parliamentary Committee was appointed to enquire into the question of Juvenile Crime. It was before this Committee that the Authorities of the Stretton Colony gave remarkable evidence which, at the time, came as a new light to a generation whose imagination had not yet been quickened to perceive the possibilities of reform in the case of youthful prisoners. They stated inevidence that "their experience had been with prisoners between the ages of 16 and 20 with whom they had been dealing since 1815, and that no less than60 in every 100 might be permanently reformed and restored to Society, whereas the ordinary prospect that awaits these youths under the ordinary Prison System is a life of degradation, varied only by short terms of Imprisonment, and terminating in banishment or death." It may be that the eyes of the Committee were opened by this simple statement of fact. We know that they took a step which is of singular historical interest. They formally consulted the High Court Judges as to the possibility of introducing a reformatory element into Prison Discipline. The High Court speaking in the name of its most distinguished members, Lord Denman, Lord Cockburn and Lord Blackburn, declared reform and imprisonment to be a contradiction in terms, and utterly irreconcilable. They expressed a doubt as to the possibility of such a system of imprisonment as would reform the offender, and yet leave the dread of imprisonment unimpaired.
Though this was the legal and official view at the time, there were fortunately other voices heard during the progress of this enquiry, the voices of less distinguished men and women, but of those whose names will be recorded in history as the pioneers and the workers in the field that eventually led fifteen years later to the establishment of our Reformatory School system. I refer to such persons as Davenport Hill, Sir Joshua Jebb, Miss Carpenter, Monkton Milnes, Captain Machonochie, Mr. Sergeant Adams and Mr. Sidney Turner.
The passing of the Reformatory School Act of 1854 marked the climax of the efforts of that generation. They had established the principle that the young offender,at least up to the age of 16should be dealt with by other than the methods of Prison or Transportation. This was a great victory at the time, and for many years public opinion regarded the Reformatory School Act as the last word spoken on the subject of juvenile delinquency. There were others, however, and among them Mr. Sidney Turner, who regarded that Act only as a stepping stone to further progress.The age of 16which for so many yearswas consecrated as the age at which criminal youth ends and criminal majority begins, he described more than once 'as a mere measure of precaution'; and a stage on the road to lead to further developments. The age of 16 was adopted at that time by universal consent for no other reason, so far as I can gather, than that it was the age of 'criminal majority' in the French Penal Code, and it had become notorious owing to the success of the French Colony of Mettray, established in the 'thirties' and which prescribed 16 as the age of 'discernment' under French Law.
The age of 16, therefore, became crystallised as the age of criminal majority in this country. Attempts were made from time to time to have the age raised to 18, but the conflict of opinion on this point waxed very fierce, some maintaining that the admission of older youths would corrupt the rest, while others asserted that an enormous number of youths now being sent to Prison at the age of 16 might be reclaimed, if subject to reformatory influences. This battle waxed fierce in the early 'eighties' and although, in my opinion, the best argument was on the side of those who desired an extension of age, yet by one of those curious results that sometimes issue from the Parliamentary Machine, the only legislation affecting the age of the inmates of Reformatory Schools is known as Lord Leigh's Act of 1891, which, instead of giving greater powers to Reformatory Schools, limited the right of detention to the age of 19 years, whereas it had formerly been 21. The question of age, however, was not destined to remain in abeyance. Other causes than the conflict of opinions between Managers of Reformatory Schools brought this question very prominently to the front a few years later.
It came to the front incidentally, as I have already stated, in the findings of the Prison Committee of 1894; and of the Reformatory Schools Committee of the same year. Both Committees arrived at the same conclusion almost simultaneously,viz:—that 16-21 was the dangerous age: that attention must be concentrated on that: that we must try and lay hold of the incipient criminal, or as we call him in prison language, the Juvenile-Adult.
It was at this time that I was appointed by the HomeSecretary (Mr. Asquith) to be Chairman of the Prison Commission, against which so severe an indictment had been laid, as explained in a former Chapter, of being indifferent to the moral welfare of prisoners. My experience and observation had already led me to form a very strong opinion that the Penal Law, which classified forthwith as adult criminals lads of 16, was unjust and inhuman. I obtained the authority of the Home Secretary, Sir M. Ridley, who was in warm sympathy with my views, to go to the United States in 1897 to study at Elmira the working of what is known as the American "State Reformatory System." The annual reports of the authorities at Elmira had begun to attract considerable attention in Europe. The American System classified as youths all persons between the ages of 16 and 30. While we classified our boys as adults, the American adopted the converse method, and classified his adults as boys. I thought myself that the truth lay midway between these two systems, between the system that ends youth too early and that which prolongs it too late, between the voluntary system of England and the State Reformatory System of the United States. The point I was aiming at was to take the 'dangerous' age—16-21—out of the Prison System altogether, and to make it subject to special "Institutional" treatment on reformatory lines.
I was impressed by all that I saw and learnt at the principal State Reformatories of America, at that time chiefly in the States of New York and Massachusetts. The elaborate system of moral, physical, and industrial training of these prisoners, the enthusiasm which dominated the work, the elaborate machinery for supervision of parole, all these things, if stripped of their extravagances, satisfied me that a real, human effort was being made in these States for the rehabilitation of the youthful criminal. It was on my return that, with the authority of the Secretary of State, the first experiments were begun of the special treatment, with a view to the rehabilitation of the young prisoners, 16 to 21, in London Prisons. A small Society was formed, known as the London Prison Visitors' Association, to visit these lads in the London Prisons: (they were removed later, as stated, to the oldConvict Prison at Borstal). The procedure was to visit Borstal by roster each month, and interview the cases about to be discharged in the following month, so that the best arrangements might be made. Out of this small body of visitors sprang the Borstal Association, and it is interesting now, looking back to that time, to recall the circumstances under which this Association was founded. There was in the public mind a great confusion as to the exact meaning of the phrase "Juvenile Offender". That ambiguity has since been largely cleared up by the definitions of the Children Act, but, at that time, there was a confusing medley of appellations; and children, young persons, and youthful offenders, were all jumbled together in the same category. The specific proposal was to deal with the age, 16 to 21, and it was decided, in order to emphasize this fact and make a clear distinction between this age and all other ages, to make use of the word "Borstal", that is, the name of the village where the experiment was being carried out. I think that this appellation has been singularly fortunate in its results, as it has made it quite clear that we are not dealing with the youthful offender as usually conceived, that is, a boy, or even a child, who may have lapsed into some petty or occasional delinquency, and who was being sufficiently provided for by the Reformatory School Acts and by the Rules concerning juvenile offenders in prisons. Our object was to deal with a far different material, the young hooligan advanced in crime, perhapswith many previous convictions, and who appeared to be inevitably doomed to a life of habitual crime.
We had, in the Association of Visitors in London Prisons, a nucleus in forming the now well-known Borstal Association. Among them were two young barristers, living in chambers, who placed their time and their rooms at our disposal. They were Mr. Haldane Porter and Mr. (now Sir Wemyss) Grant-Wilson, the first and the second Honorary Directors of the Association. We had little or no money. The Treasury gave us £100 a year. An appeal, addressed to the public through the columns of "The Times", met with only a disappointing result; but later an appeal to personal friends for a small annualsubscription, rather than a donation, was successful to this extent, at least, that we were able to rely on a small income with which to conduct our operations. By this means, we obtained an income of some £400 or £500 a year, and to those kind and generous friends who helped us at that critical moment, the success of the movement is principally due.
Having established an Association, we next had to establish a system. The object of the System was to arrest or check the evil habit by the 'individualization' of the prisoner, mentally, morally, and physically. To the exhortation and moral persuasion of a selected staff, we added physical drill, gymnastics, technical and literary instruction: inducements to good conduct by a system of grades and rewards, which, though small and trivial in themselves, were yet calculated to encourage a spirit of healthy emulation and inspire self respect. Elaborate rules for giving effect to the system were introduced by the Authority of Parliament, but at this stage, Parliament had not recognized the system in any other way, andwe had to work within the limits which existing Penal law afforded: that is, the cases we dealt with were by thetransferof young prisoners of this age, who happened, for their particular offence, to have been awarded sentences of imprisonment forsix months and upwards. It soon became clear that theelement of time, that is, a longer sentence than the law permitted, was essential for the success of the scheme. Experience showed that something may be done in twelve months, little or nothing in a shorter period, that the system should be one of stern and exact discipline, tempered only by such rewards and privileges as good conduct, with industry, might earn: and resting on its physical side on the basis of hard, manual labour and skilled trades, and on its moral and intellectual side on the combined efforts of the Chaplain and the Schoolmaster. Such a sentence should not be less than three years, conditional liberation being freely granted, when the circumstances of any case gave a reasonable prospect of reclamation, and when the Borstal Association, after careful study of the case, felt able to make fair provision on discharge.
It was in 1906, when an experience of four or five years had established these principles, that I addressed a strong representation to the Secretary of State, asking for an alteration of the law on these lines: and in 1908, thanks to the cordial agreement with these views, manifested at that time both by the Secretary of State (Lord Gladstone) and the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr. Asquith), these principles became law under the Borstal Act of 1908. The system in vogue to-day is a legal system: it has passed beyond the experimental stage, and has become a part, an important part, of the criminal law of this country, and not of this county only, but is a prototype of analogous Institutions which have been established in many parts throughout the civilized world. The system, as it operates to-day, is the same in its leading features as the experimental system prior to the Act. The principles are the same, but we now have the element of time. We have now no case of less than two years, and a considerable number with the maximum of three years.
During recent years the annual committals to Borstal Detention have averaged nearly 600 for males and 180 for females, and three Borstal Institutions have been established—Borstal and Feltham for males, accommodating about 400 each, and Aylesbury for females. These Institutions are fulfilling in an admirable way the purpose for which they were created,viz.,—to furnish the opportunity by which many young persons who have ceased to be "young offenders" (i.e., under sixteen years) and who are not yet fully developed adults (i.e., over twenty-one) may be rescued from a life of crime. The high tone and character of the superintending staff, untiring in the efforts which they devote to the moral, literary, and technical education of inmates: the healthy rivalry stimulated by competition, not only in the schools, but in the playground (for it is the privilege of the Special Grade to take part in games of football and cricket): the great care devoted to the physical well-being and training in Gymnastics, &c.—experience is daily showing that all these things are having the effect of arresting in his downward career the young, and often dangerous, criminal between the ages of sixteen and twenty-one, who, untilthe necessity of special legislation to deal with his case was recognized by public opinion, only served an apprenticeship in a succession of short sentences for trivial crime in his early days, in order to qualify for entry into the ranks of habitual crime.
For the purpose of permanent rehabilitation, the Borstal Association has taken these lads in hand on discharge and led them into the paths of honesty, and industry, and employment; and statistics furnished shortly before the outbreak of war concerning 1,454 cases discharged on licence since the Act of 1908 came into force showed that only 392, or twenty-seven per cent., had been reconvicted. It is commonplace to assert that a good system of "Patronage," or aid on discharge, is a necessary complement to the Prison System; but, generally speaking, Aid Societies, either from the number of persons with whom they have to deal, or from insufficient resources, fail to deal except with a very small proportion of cases; but the Borstal Association takesallcases, and spends time and money equally on each, despairing of none, and maintains a long and continuous record and subsequent history of each case. Behind this highly organized method of care and supervision lies a great and a sincere humanity, which prevents the work degenerating, as is too often the case, into a hard and mechanical routine. The Borstal System, by itself, would not work wonders, nor by itself, eradicate the vicious or anti-social elements from the young criminal heart; but a system of strict control and discipline while under detention, followed up and supported by a real and effective system of "Patronage" on discharge, furnishes the secret of the considerable success that has been obtained. The same spirit which animates the system is also being manifested in our Probation and Children Laws; and to it can be ascribed the marvellous reduction of juvenile crime during the twenty years prior to the war.
The application of the System to young women is dealt with in the Chapter (infra) on Female Offenders.
It is a great satisfaction to those who have directed so much effort to building up the Borstal System that the Lord Chief Justice, presiding over the Court of Criminal Appeal, should have stated recently that the Court are ofopinion that "Borstal Institutions are of the greatest assistance to the lads committed to them, and may, and often do, save them; and also the three years, which is the term that is permitted, is, in the absence of exceptional circumstances, the right term, as it does give the lad that chance which very often a shorter term does not afford him."
Independently of the law of 1908, there is in operation a so-called "Modified" Borstal System atallPrisons, in all parts of the Country, and special Rules regulate the detention, and "Borstal Committees" devote themselves to the after-care of young prisoners of both sexes between the ages of sixteen and twenty-one, whatever the length of sentence. The object of the System for males is to apply, us far as practicable, having regard to the length of sentence, the methods followed at Borstal Institutions, for the special treatment of offenders 16-21 sentenced to imprisonment. The shortness of sentence, of course, operates against any manifest result, but experience has shown that with lads of this age much can be effected by close personal interest and oversight on the part not only of the prison authority, but of voluntary workers. The longer sentences are transferred to collecting depôts. The System provides for two Grades, Ordinary, and Special. To pass from the Ordinary to the Special Grade, a juvenile-adult must earn 300 "merit marks", the maximum number being 25 a week; In the Special Grade he may receive a good conduct stripe after serving a month with exemplary conduct, which entitles him to a special gratuity. Cases sentenced tolessthan 3 months are not transferred to a Collecting Depôt, but are specially located and segregated from adult offenders at the prison of committal. Both categories receive daily drill and exercise, and are associated at labour. If the conduct and industry of an inmate are satisfactory, he may receive a gratuity not exceeding £2. Remission of sentence is not granted, except when specially recommended by the Borstal Committee. Special attention is paid to the education of all cases, by instruction in class and by lectures on secular subjects. During the year 1919-20, 1130 males were committed to prison with sentences of3 months and over, and 2,261 with sentences of less than 3 months.
At all Prisons, Borstal Committees are set up to deal with this particular class of delinquent. They are composed of members of the Visiting Committee, who may co-opt for the purpose members of the Discharged Prisoners' Aid Societies, and any other influential person, of either sex, interested in the treatment and reclamation of the young. It is a splendid testimony to the efforts made by the members of these Committees throughout the country to rescue lads from a life of crime that, out of 2,126 dealt with during 1918, 1,734 or 81 per cent. were well placed on discharge, while some Committees were able to place the whole of their cases in suitable employment. In the case of young females, the difficulties encountered on discharge are more formidable, but of 913 dealt with during the year, 406 were suitably placed, and 160 returned to their friends.
In the case of young Convicts, also, sentenced to penal servitude, as already stated, Rules provide for the collection of this category at Dartmoor, where they are strictly segregated from the ordinary prison population, and are treated, so far as conditions permit, according to the principles of the Borstal System. On discharge moreover, they are specially committed to the care of the Borstal Association.
It will be seen, therefore, that the Borstal net is now wide-spread, and embraces the whole of the Prison population, male and female, between the ages of 16 and 21. Now that this differentiation according to age has become a fact, it is regarded almost as a commonplace that no person under the age of 21 should be treated under Rules applicable to adults. Yet this simple proposition is of quite recent origin. Twenty years ago, not only were all offenders under 21 years of age mingled with the general herd to be found in our Prisons, but many young persons under the age of 16. So quickly, and so easily, do reforms based on reason, and justice, and humanity—although at the time encountering the resistance and opposition that comes of prejudice and custom—commend themselves to public approval.
Such then is the short history of what is well-known as the Borstal System. It is, in the abstract, an attempt to give expression by the executive dealing with crime, to the natural and scientific law that, up to the age of 21 (the age of civil majority for the ordinary affairs of life), neither the human mind nor the human body is fully formed and developed, but is still plastic and receptive of good influences, skilfully and carefully applied. It is, in the concrete, a simple system of firm and exact discipline, tempered by an ascending scale of rewards and privileges which depend upon industry, conduct, and special merit. The Instructions for the treatment of inmates will be found in the Appendix, and give the details of the system,—a system of grades, with an ascending scale of privileges—the passing from a lower to a higher grade, only to be achieved after a sufficient period of test and observation by supervising authority. The 'Tutors' are a special feature of the Institutions. They are in a sense House-masters, or Masters of Sections or Wings of inmates. They are selected for their special qualifications for dealing with lads of this age and character, each of whom it is their duty to 'individualize,'i.e., to observe closely. They have an important position in the establishment, having the rank and status of Deputy Governors. They constitute a sort of advisory council to the Governor, advising as to claim and fitness to pass from one grade to another. They are at the same time, the friend and counsellor of the inmate, and the adjutant to the Governor in maintaining a strict discipline, and a due observance of order and method in every particular. They are also, under the presidency of the Chaplain, the educational authority of the establishment, being responsible for the method both of elementary and advanced teaching.
Though it will be seen that the rewards and privileges of each grade are of a simple nature, yet they are a sufficient stimulus to the majority of these lads to 'gain their blue,' as it is called. They are simple devices for cultivating self-respect in a field where that tender plant has never hitherto been sown. But it is in the simplicity of these things that their value lies. Many of these lads aretotal strangers to the most elementary refinements of civilized life; and so we inculcate the principle that by working hard and behaving well, a reward which brings comfort and pleasure follows upon the effort made. Here then we lay the first brick in building up character. The Borstal lad is regarded as a piece of "human masonry," and every one works with a will to turn out a creditable piece of work while the lad is in their hands. They are laying bricks all the time, till thefatalday of liberation comes—fatalbecause the Borstal System depends essentially for its success upon the Aid-on-discharge which Aid Societies, individually and collectively, can and will render. If the crime in this country is going to be diminished, effort must be concentrated on the young. It must be seen that the piece of masonry which we have built up does not fall to pieces, like an Egyptian mummy, immediately it comes into contact with the outer air of liberty. But the best-conceived regulations will not, by themselves, effect much. It is the personal influence of the Superintending Staff, from the Governor downwards, which is the thing that matters. To understand the Borstal System it is not enough to read about it in a book: you must see it in actual operation,—the keen activity that pervades the establishment: the admirable order and precision of the parade ground: the swing-and-go of the gymnasium: the busy hive of industry in all its multifarious departments: the educational classes and chapel services, the lecture room; and when the time for recreation comes, the glow and keenness of the youngsters in the football or cricket field. Given the material we work with, at first slow, stubborn, impenetrable, with no outlook in life but that of criminal adventure, with its gamble—but its ultimate certain doom, the Prison—any impartial visitor will, I think, agree that here is a wonderful metamorphosis—the conversion of the inveterate gaol-bird of a few years ago to a strong, well-set-up, well-drilled handy English lad, with respect for authority, with a new birthright, qualifying him to enter the ranks of honest, industrious labour. Such a conversion in a few cases would amply justify the system, and all the expense and labour it has entailed; but when the recordsof the Borstal Association can show that this conversion takes place in many cases, it must indeed be a great encouragement to all engaged in social work, even in the most difficult places, that such results will certainly follow upon healthy influences, steadily and wisely applied.
The principle of the Borstal System received an important extension by the provisions of Section 10 of the Criminal Justice Administration Act, 1914. The condition that the particular offence must be indictable being removed, largely widens the scope and operation of the System. The same Act also raises the minimum period of detention, and extends that of "Supervision" after discharge. Considerable advantage is being taken of Section 10 since it became law, no fewer than 211 males and 42 females having been dealt with under its provisions in 1919-20.
CHAPTER IX.
THE HANDMAIDS OF THE PRISON SYSTEM:—(1) THE CHILDREN ACT, 1908:(2) THE PROBATION ACT, 1907.
(1) THE CHILDREN ACT, 1908.
The passing of the Children Act, 1908, which practically forbids imprisonment before sixteen years of age, marks the last stage in that slow and tedious journey which had to be undertaken by many devoted men and women who were conscious of the grave evils resulting from imprisonment, before it was generally realized that it was not by throwing children and young persons automatically and indiscriminately into gaol, that the grave problem of juvenile delinquency was going to be solved.
The Children Act, 1908, known as the "Children's Charter", revolutionized the penal law of this country, so far as the imprisonment of young persons under the age of sixteen was concerned, in the English law there is a conclusive presumption that children under seven years of age cannot havemens rea, and so cannot be made liable to be punished by criminal law. Between seven and fourteen years that presumption is no longer conclusive. Guilty knowledge may be shown by the fact of the offender having been previously convicted of some earlier offence, or even by the circumstances of the present offence. Full criminal responsibility is presumed at the age of fourteen. The Children Act, without reference to the question of criminal responsibility, prescribed a clear distinction between offences committed bychildren,i.e., persons under the age of fourteen, andyoung persons,i.e., between fourteen and sixteen. Neither "children" nor "young persons"i.e., no person under the age of sixteen, can now be sent to penal servitude or to imprisonment unless the Court certifies in the case ofa young person, 14-16, that he is of so unruly a character that an alternative form of punishment is not desirable. Offenders under sixteen cannot be sentenced to death, but may be detained during His Majesty's Pleasure. Those guilty of grave crime, such as attempt to murder, manslaughter, &c., can be detained in such places, and under such conditions, as the Secretary of State may direct. The effect of this Act is, therefore, to withdraw all persons under sixteen entirely, or almost entirely, from the control of the Prison Authority. In lieu of detention in Prison, the Act creates "Places of Detention", to be established by the Police Authority of the district, the expense of maintenance being divided between the Police Authority and the Treasury. Young offenders may be committed to such Places of Detention for any period not exceeding one month, or on remand or committal for trial. Such establishments are subject to regulations and inspection by the Secretary of State. The Children Act, 1908, consolidated the law as to Reformatory and Industrial Schools, and, at the same time, introduced other amendments,e.g., that no child under twelve should be sent to a Reformatory School: children under that age may be sent to Industrial Schools, notwithstanding any previous conviction recorded against them: power is given to the Secretary of State to transfer from a Reformatory to an Industrial School, andvice versâ: power of control and supervision of cases up to the age of 19 is given to managers of Reformatory Schools where the term of detention expires earlier: earlier licensing in the case of Industrial Schools is permitted: and statutory reference is also made for providing special Reformatory and Industrial Schools for physically and mentally defective cases.
For some years prior to the passing of the Children Act, 1908, those interested in the welfare of the young had been trying to secure the hearing of charges against juvenile delinquents in Courts of Justice apart from those of adults. In 1905, several large towns had taken this step. At Birmingham, the first separate Court for children's cases was established in April, 1905, to which was attached the first Probation Officer for children.
In the same year, the Secretary of State issued acircular to Magistrates pointing out the evil resulting from contact with the more depraved and criminal adults, and asking them to consider what steps could be taken to prevent such contamination by securing their protection at Police Courts during the hearing of their cases.
One of the recommendations of the Inter-Departmental Committee on Physical Deterioration, 1904, was that, whenever possible, in cases touching the young, where the assistance of a Magistrate was invoked, he should be a person specially selected, sitting for the purpose. In a Circular to Justices in 1909, explanatory of the provisions of the Children Act relating to the establishment of Children's Courts, the Secretary of State expressed the opinion that it was desirable, where possible, that the formation of Juvenile Courts should be assigned to a separate rota of Magistrates who possess, or who would soon acquire, a special knowledge of the methods of dealing with juvenile crime and of institutions for juvenile offenders.
On the passing of the Children Act, 1908, special Courts, called Juvenile Courts, were created for dealing with charges against children or young persons. Such Court may be either in a separate building, or in a room of an ordinary Court House. No person, other than members or officers of the Court or parties to the case, their counsel or solicitors, or persons otherwise directly concerned in the case, may be allowed to attend, and means must be taken for preventing young persons while in attendance at the Court, or being conveyed to or from Court, from associating with adults. The chief methods for dealing with children and young persons charged with offences enumerated in Section 107 of the Act, are:—
(a) by dismissing the charge; or(b) by discharging the offender on his entering into a recognizance; or(c) by so discharging the offender and placing him under the supervision of a probation officer; or(d) by committing the offender to the care of a relative or other fit person; or(e) by sending the offender to an industrial school; or(f) by sending the offender to a reformatory school; or(g) by ordering the offender to be whipped; or(h) by ordering the offender to pay a fine, damages, or costs; or(i) by ordering the parent or guardian of the offender to pay a fine, damages, or costs; or(j) by ordering the parent or guardian of the offender to give security for his good behaviour; or(k) by committing the offender to custody in a place of detention provided under the Act; or(l) by dealing with the case in any other manner in which it may be legally dealt with.
(a) by dismissing the charge; or
(b) by discharging the offender on his entering into a recognizance; or
(c) by so discharging the offender and placing him under the supervision of a probation officer; or
(d) by committing the offender to the care of a relative or other fit person; or
(e) by sending the offender to an industrial school; or
(f) by sending the offender to a reformatory school; or
(g) by ordering the offender to be whipped; or
(h) by ordering the offender to pay a fine, damages, or costs; or
(i) by ordering the parent or guardian of the offender to pay a fine, damages, or costs; or
(j) by ordering the parent or guardian of the offender to give security for his good behaviour; or
(k) by committing the offender to custody in a place of detention provided under the Act; or
(l) by dealing with the case in any other manner in which it may be legally dealt with.
Since 1910, the number of cases dealt with in Juvenile Courts has risen from 33,598 to 49,915 in 1918, the increase having taken place chiefly since the outbreak of war. Included in the latter total were 28,843 boys and 1,364 girls under the age of 14. Statistics show that a conviction is recorded in about 50 per cent. of the number dealt with annually, the majority of which are disposed of by fine, whipping, or committal to a Reformatory School. Of those cases in which the charge is proved, though no order made forconviction(about 35 per cent.) the bulk of the cases are disposed of by Probation, Recognizances, Dismissal, or committal to an Industrial School. Only in the number who were placed on Probation, and in the number whipped, is there any great variation since 1910 in statistics as to the manner in which cases were dealt with, as shown above. In the case of probation, in 1910 3,568 cases or 10·6 per cent. of the total dealt with, were so disposed of: in 1918, the number had risen to 5,868, or 11·8 per cent. of the total. A large rise is shown in the number who were whipped,viz:—1,562 in the former year, and 3,593 in the latter, or 11·9 and 13·1 per cent, respectively, of the totalconvicted. In 1913 (the latest figures available), 6,972 children and young persons, dealt with in Juvenile Courts, were committed to Places of Detention, 4,073 of whom were on remand, 1,910 to await removal to Industrial Schools, 11 to await trial, and 147 under sentence. Nearly sixty per cent. of the total cases were committed from the Metropolitan Police District and Liverpool.
Public concern is not, however, only with the delinquent child. It is also with the many thousands of children who are the subject of physical or mental defect, or of insufficient care and supervision during the age of adolescence. During that period, after having left the public elementary schools, boys and girls are thrown into the outer world to earn what wages they can without regard either to the special aptitude they may possess, or to any security that the occupation they choose is one in which they have any chance of remaining permanently employed. It has become manifest to those dealing with young offenders on discharge from Prison, or other Institutions, that one of the principal causes leading to the commission of criminal acts is to be found in what is generally known as "blind-alley" employment,i.e., employment obtained casually and thoughtlessly by young persons on leaving school in which they cannot be maintained on attaining maturity.
It was not till 1893, or more than twenty years after the principle of compulsory elementary education had been established, that Blind and Deaf children were made the special concern of the legislation. It was later still than this that the case of the Defective and Epileptic child engaged the attention of Parliament; but the Elementary Education (Defective and Epileptic Children) Act, 1899, did not go beyond prescribing that it should be the duty of the Local Education Authority to ascertain the existence of such children. It was left to the option of the Local Authorities whether or not the provisions of the Act for their special treatment should be adopted, and a large number of Education Authorities failed to respond.
The Mental Deficiency Act, 1913, however, makes it the duty of every Local Education Authority
(1) to ascertain the existence of mental defect of such kind or degree as to justify the diagnosis of feeble-mindedness, imbecility, or idiocy;(2) to determine whether a child diagnosed as feeble-minded is or is not capable of benefiting from education in a Special School, and;(3) to notify to the Local Authority under the Act,all defective children over the age of seven (a) who are incapable of education in Special Schools; (b) who, though educable, are detrimental to other children; (c) who require supervision or guardianship under the Mental Deficiency Act, or (d) who after leaving a Special School need institutional treatment or guardianship.
(1) to ascertain the existence of mental defect of such kind or degree as to justify the diagnosis of feeble-mindedness, imbecility, or idiocy;
(2) to determine whether a child diagnosed as feeble-minded is or is not capable of benefiting from education in a Special School, and;
(3) to notify to the Local Authority under the Act,all defective children over the age of seven (a) who are incapable of education in Special Schools; (b) who, though educable, are detrimental to other children; (c) who require supervision or guardianship under the Mental Deficiency Act, or (d) who after leaving a Special School need institutional treatment or guardianship.
Under the Elementary Education (Defective and Epileptic) Children Act, 1914, every Local Education Authority is compelled to notify all mentally defective children; and to provide for the education of those who are capable of profiting by instruction, the number of whom (excluding idiots, imbeciles, and the lowest grade of the feeble-minded) is estimated at over 30,000.
As a security against "blind-alley" employment, and its consequent dangers, a well-organized movement is now in progress throughout the country by the establishment of Juvenile Employment bureaux and Labour Exchanges, and by the setting-up of Advisory Committees in connection with Education Authorities to secure advice, and guidance, and control during the perilous age of adolescence. The Education Act, 1918, made provision for raising the compulsory age for 'full-time' attendance at a Public Elementary School from 12 to 14, and also for compulsory attendance at continuation schools between the ages of 14 and 18. The Act also contains drastic provisions restricting child labour during such hours as interfere with efficient instruction. The determination that the youth of this country should not only be saved from a criminal career, but should have opportunities, suited to the age, for the development of character, is found in the widely spread organizations of Boy Scouts, Boys' Brigades, and other kindred associations.
It is in this movement of voluntary personal service, on the part of the earnest men and women, engaged in all these works and acting in the highest sense of patriotism and public duty, that the hope of the solution of the criminal problem lies in the future; and it is for this reason that I have adverted shortly to a movement that is proceeding in this country at the present time for the better nurture and education, and control of all thatenormous number of boys and girls who, though they must profit to a certain extent under a system of free compulsory education, will not be transformed by education alone into useful and honest citizenship. Side by side with the machinery of the public elementary school system, there must be agencies at work of which the high purpose is not only to secure that the defective child shall be treated in accordance with scientific method, and that the pauper child shall not have less favourable opportunity than his fellows, but that all classes of children after satisfying the standard of literacy ordained by the school authority, shall, during the period of adolescence, be subject to such influences as shall secure them, when they attain maturity, a fair chance in the competition of life. Therein lies the prophylactic of crime. No Prison Authority can be indifferent to the great social effort now being made, the effect of which is perhaps already visible in the diminishing number of young persons convicted of crime. In future years, it is hoped that it will not be a commonplace, as it is now, for many old offenders to attribute their downfall, and their persistence in a criminal career, to neglect during infancy and early youth, and to the absence of any controlling influence to save them during the initial years preceding maturity from acts of mischief, or of fraud, until Prison, as the automatic and unvarying penalty, destroyed in them the germs of hope and confidence, and self-respect, without which a foothold in honest life could with difficulty be regained.
(2) THE PROBATION ACT, 1907:—
Former International Prison Congresses pronounced in favour of the provisional sentence ("sentence provisoire"). By this is meant in foreign codes what is generally known as a "conditional conviction,"i.e., a conviction takes place, but is not carried into effect, conditionally on the good conduct of the offender during a term of years (generally five) prescribed by the law. This respite is known technically as "sursis à l'exécution de la peine." The principle of conditional conviction is common to most penal codes, but operates in different ways,e.g., it may take the form simply of judicial reprimand, or of beingbound over to be of good behaviour, or of probation, as in England and America, or of respite in the execution of the sentence, as in France, Belgium, and Switzerland. The Continental law of "sursis" or "respite" differs from the English law of Probation in that in the former case there is always a conviction. In England, except in serious cases tried on indictment, there is no conviction. The English law gives power if the court, "having regard to the character, antecedents, age, health, or mental condition of the person charged, or to the trivial nature of the offence, or to the extenuating circumstances under which the offence was committed, thinks fit so to act, to discharge the offender conditionally on his entering into a recognisance, with or without sureties, to be of good behaviour and to appear for conviction" (if before a court of summary jurisdiction) "and sentence when called on at any time during such period, not exceeding three years, as may be specified in the order." Such a recognisance may contain the condition that the offender shall be under the supervision of a probation officer. The court may add further conditions with respect to residence, abstention from intoxicating liquor, and any other matter which, having regard to the particular circumstances of the case, it may consider necessary for the prevention of the same offence, or the commission of other offences.
It is the duty of the probation officer, subject to the directions of the court—
"(a) to visit or receive reports from the person under supervision at such reasonable intervals as may be specified in the probation order, or subject thereto as the probation officer may think fit;"(b) to see that he observes the conditions of his recognisance;"(c) to report to the court as to his behaviour;"(d) to advise, assist, and befriend him, and, when necessary, to endeavour to find him suitable employment."
"(a) to visit or receive reports from the person under supervision at such reasonable intervals as may be specified in the probation order, or subject thereto as the probation officer may think fit;
"(b) to see that he observes the conditions of his recognisance;
"(c) to report to the court as to his behaviour;
"(d) to advise, assist, and befriend him, and, when necessary, to endeavour to find him suitable employment."